Hi, simon here. The new 2-cd "24 years of minimum r&b" should be released around march -17. Thanks for all kind words!
You can always check my homepage: www.simonsteensland.com
Hi, simon here. The new 2-cd "24 years of minimum r&b" should be released around march -17. Thanks for all kind words!
You can always check my homepage: www.simonsteensland.com
Cool Simon, it's great you're here. Thanks for the update. "24 years of minimum r&b" is an autobuy.Originally Posted by dumbass
Sweet! Autobuy? Never heard that before, good word. I will try to incorporate that in my vocabulary!
Looking forward to this release[emoji106] [emoji106]
Actually, so am i! It has been good to go for over a year now... Will be released on AltrOck.
Looking forward to it!
Simon - your bandmates are so excellent - where do you find them? How do you put together the players for each album?
The Culture Cafe, Sundays 6-9am on WWUH-FM
Broadcasting from the University of Hartford, CT at 91.3FM, streaming at www.wwuh.streamrewind.com and at www.wwuh.org
Me too. The last one was really great!
Looking forward to it!
Last 2 have both been monsters, autobuy.
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.
Most of them are my friends. There´s actually lot´s of very good musicians here in little sweden. I have never had any problems finding people to play my music!
None of them has unfortunately even get paid...
And to answer a previous topic here in this "thread": if some one NEED sheet music to learn/play my music, they have to "supply" it themselfs, because i sure can´t...
Then i just have to check/listen that every note is correct. Voilá! It´s as simple as that! Thanks for asking!
Last edited by dumbass; 12-10-2016 at 02:39 PM.
Simon -
I realize that you compose everything by sound and by ear. But how do you communicate parts to the band if you don't write them down? What music I've heard of yours does not sound easy, not the kind of thing where someone could listen and find a part. And it also sounds very specific and plotted-out - the kind of music where each part must consist of these notes on these beats, or it won't work and will sound chaotic instead of complex. (Rather like Mike's material.)
Do you have the whole thing in your head, and sit down with the players to teach each part note-by-note? Or do you record an audio demo where the tracks can be isolated, worked on, and learned (or written down)? Or do you create MIDI demos, where the parts can be isolated and slowed down, or sent through a scoring program and printed out? Or do you have some other method?
Last edited by Baribrotzer; 12-10-2016 at 04:46 PM.
Oh some tough questions. It depends on the situation, but most of the time i don´t have a band. If the music is not too complex i show the player the right notes myself.
But i do play most of the instruments myself to save time.
I do not have any scoring program or anything like that. But i DO have a very old sampler/sequenser (roland s-50) with absolute stone age performance which i still use
even today for the "trickier" parts. So then i can slow the tempo down and isolate specific parts etc. That´s pretty much it. Some of my musicians do want sheet music, and if that´s the case they have to write it down them selfs. Yes, i´m picky, it HAS to be right. In the theatre world where i make my "money", my regular keyboard man always want the scores.
Sometimes i sit with him for days and days to get it right. Very tedious. But most of the time the players can learn/play it without. It ain´t that complicated. When you record
you can always do it "part by part". I guess it can be either bad or good, but i´m very pragmatic. Not too interested in the method, i´m more result oriented.
But for myself, not being able to read or write has made/forced my ability to memorise (music) to a very high standard. I played bass guitar on one song for TP´s
upcoming album "Hoping Against Hope" and there were many notes to memorise, some clever rhythmic passages and NO time to rest... But since i play fretless, still the
hardest was to play in good pitch. It turned out good eventually and i can tell you it´s a pretty smashing album!!
Neither does paul mcCartney. Eric clapton, tony williams, jimi hendrix, eddie van halen. Or simon phillips. No can do.
I just struggle to know as little as possible about music. Don´t want to know. Want to listen, experience.
Last edited by dumbass; 12-13-2016 at 03:04 AM.
my 4 years old son speak well and it doesn't read anything (well .. he could spell words )
People forget that we talk before being able to read ...
Ah, i know. I have a 4 years old son myself! The pride of my life. He just likes cars, robin hood and ice cream . He´s not interested in music at all,
but still he´s got perfect pitch. I don´t...
mine is interested in music but he want to strike on everything .. my poor old upright piano is really abused by him ... I suppose he try to tell me he really want to be a drummer .. ;-)
You have to do what you have to do. But it really isn't all that hard to learn how to write music down. Unless you use very complex rhythms, it's fairly straightforward. A lot easier than:
And I can't see how knowing how to write it would cause you to become less original. I've heard that argument, from guys who made a point of not knowing what key they were in - or in one case, of not even knowing the names of the notes. But you've been at it for years. Your style is formed - it has a sound of its own, and you've evolved that over decades. Do you really think that it's so fragile or magical that writing it down would destroy what makes it special? Because what makes it special is you: the way you string notes together, the way you put them against one another, what sounds "right" to you, what doesn't sound "right", what has potential, what seems like a dead end, what sounds boring. One small bit of knowledge won't change that.
With that said, the thing that would give you trouble might be trying to learn conventional music theory, then apply it to your own work. Remarks like "those aren't real chords", suggest that your music is of a sort that resists being explained in terms evolved to describe older, more straightforward styles.
Dear Baribrotzer! I can very well appreciate what you´re saying. No, i don´t feel that my music is either fragile nor magical. I´m very confident in my work.
So i don´t think that writing it down would necessarily "destroy" the spirit of it, or me. Maybe it´s sort of a philosophical thing more than an axiom or superstition.
The mighty "sitting bull" was one of the bravest people that ever lived. Still he was afraid of the white man´s cameras, he felt that they would "take his soul away".
Superstition? Once upon a time i was too lazy to learn how to write/read. Now i just don´t care. I really don´t think that the name of each note is that amazing to know.
I´ve been in professional orchestras where the very skilled musicians spent most of the rehearsals arguing about the "value" of some notes in some written passages, instead of actually listen to it. Or nothing even close to play it... The composer himself, and me, were the only ones to actually being able to play it.
I know many people that rely so hard on what´s written down, that they don´t have any ears left...
Yes, i know the name of each and every note on a keyboard, but not at all on bass guitar. I´m not that stupid, but i never found myself even wondering the slightest
about how it "all works". Most of my musicians doesn´t read, and those who actually can, rarely seams to bother writing it down.
Yes, mostly it´s that "old fart keyboard player" that gives me hard times. When "we sit for days and days", the music is very complicated. Even for me.
Otherwise it wont take that long... Still, he is a fantastic musician, despite relying only on sheet music! I wouldn´t trade him for anyone else.
I guess that eventually i have to learn, but i´m fully content being ignorant until i´m actually forced to do it.
I have this idea of arrange the complete "rite of spring" for 8-piece orchestra and perform it live in the future. Maybe then i HAVE to. Still it would be pretty adventurous
for a musical disabled person to do it!
So my reply should be, use it if you have to! I KNOW that it has NOTHING to do with the quality of the music in either direction. It´s just a tool, nothing more.
Everyones toolbox contains different items.
sincerely/simon
Have you played with Mats Öberg?
A keyboard player that per definition cant read or write, but can he play !!
Actually i´m fortuned enough to have played quite a bit with mats öberg, he´s playing on about 5-6 of my albums. Fantastic musician! And i play on some of their albums as well. A true privilege!
But i have to correct you, mats actually DO know how to read music in "braille". But he never uses it, it takes much more time for him to do it that way, and one hand must always remain on the chart and not on the keyboard... So it´s not that practical for him. Maybe he can use it when he´s trying to learn some
extremely complicated music, but still i would say that it´s very rarely, if ever.
He is a fantastic keyboardist!
Reading music in "braille" - I didn't know that was possible !
Thanks !
Amazing, i got to have one of those! Never heard of them before. But how am i going to tour with it? For now i´m using an american high quality brand, which name i choose to leave out since the endorsement deal isn´t sealed yet (if ever?) and ON PAPER it should reach down to 8Hz. That´s low enough for me. In march i will use it with american composer j.g. thirlwell (aka foetus, manorexia) while world premiering his new orchestral piece here in stockholm.- mine go down to 20! Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!
13Hz? Fascinating! That's in the infrasonic range beyond human hearing or most conventional transducers for that matter. I guess it would be great for earthquake or ballistic effects, but who would be able to hear it? What would you use to record this and play it back since 20Hz is generally the lower limit for hi fi equipment? I do recall woofers w/15Hz specs (on paper) but can't remember what they were.
I guess you could go with a Thigpen Rotary Woofer which go down to 1Hz if you're keen to feel cannon fire impact on your chest (I know I am)!
Last edited by dumbass; 12-21-2016 at 07:11 AM.
awesome.
Please don't ask questions, just use google.
Never let good music get in the way of making a profit.
I'm only here to reglaze my bathtub.
Well, finally maybe perhaps....
minimum cut .jpg
supposed to be released before (this) summer...
Last edited by dumbass; 05-01-2017 at 05:40 AM.
Some weeks ago i was happy to participate in this.
There are parts in this concert that really sounds amazing (to my ears)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqOjAT0i6j4&t=11s
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